


For the Empress

by momopichu



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Grief, Mother/Daughter relationship, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 17:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10222997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momopichu/pseuds/momopichu
Summary: Emily Kaldwin must come to terms with releasing her mother's soul from the heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt "Please Stay" from the great Mysdrym!  
> Emily's POV  
> Wordcount: 732
> 
> (Also a breakfic, please don't kill me. I'll get back to my real works I promise!)

“You should be at peace,” I whisper.

And yet my mind cries for you to stay. No child should have their mother ripped from them. To have to watch the cold steel of an assassin’s sword carve deep between the ivory bones of their own blood’s chest. I remember how I turned my head from the sight, the white of my corsage dyed a crimson red, turning to flee right into another whaler’s arms just as their leader jerked you from his rusted blade and shoved you down. I remember how father’s face twisted as you crumpled, the red tide that left your body lapping at the tiles of the gazebo floor.

The sight still haunts most of my nights, even after I became empress.

Father believes my escapades across the rooftops of Dunwall are because I seek adventure, a life away from these tall walls. He’s not wrong, but I do it to run away from you too. Mother, you don’t know how many times I have yelled at myself for turning my head away, for not being there as you bled out. The regret and guilt haunts the shadows of Dunwall tower, stalks my footsteps from each cold room to cold room. I see your face around every corner, I hear your voice in every rustle of the curtains, every tinker of glass cups against silver trays.

But most of all, I felt your hand in every part of Dunwall - _no_ , in every part of Gristol. Everything you have built, everyone that you have ever spoken to. Now they are all mine. As empress I’m supposed to look after them, but all I could see was just how I wasn’t good enough to lead. Father has been patient with me, guiding me and teaching me what he can. It’s not enough, and I find myself on a boat looking back at an old decrepit pub again.

The Hound Pits Pub.

I have good and bad memories of that place. But above all it was a sanctuary, a place I was allowed to recover after your death, after everything that had happened. I remember Kallista, she was strict, but she was also kind. She watched over me when the nightmares came at night, she held me when I cried. I remember Samuel - old, wise Samuel. He taught me to fold paper boats, read me books that Kallista wouldn’t approve of, told me stories of the high seas, of the whales that sang beneath the hull and echoed in the night.

But they’re gone now. All of them.

Even father is gone. Taken by Delilah, my so-called aunt.

When I set out, all I wanted was revenge, to take back what was rightfully mine. I didn’t expect to see the ugliest parts of Gristol. Parts of Gristol which I have left to fester, all because I was too ashamed and grief-ridden to take care of what was once yours. I didn’t expect things to go this way.

But he’s watching.

The Outsider.

And if he wants a show, I’ll give him one he’ll never forget.

I’ve done what I can. I’ve saved Hypatia and Anton. I’ve stopped Jindosh’s mind and ripped away Ashworth’s power. I’ve seen Stilton’s past and remade Abele’s future. I don’t know if what I did was right, and mayhaps only time will tell. But I know now what I have to do. And I know I have to let you go so that I can confront Delilah, but it doesn’t make it any easier - knowing that I hold the last piece of you, the piece that I always wanted but never could keep.

I want to say _please_ _stay_.

But instead I’ll say “Be at peace, mother. I will honour you always.”

And as I watch you fade, I see you smile. You must’ve known, all along. When I held your heart in my hands all you’ve whispered were words of love, words that I’ve only dreamed of hearing. Maybe now I can accept them, maybe now I can move on. You have to leave, I know this. But now I also know you never truly left.

And that you’ll be with me when I take back what was once ours.

And as I hear Delilah’s cursed voice emanating from the heart that was once yours, I think I can do it, I can be…

_The_ _Empress_.

  
xxx

 


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